The tweets were still live on the Twitter Web site more than nine hours after being posted. The attack was on a verified Twitter account, one that Twitter has verified to belong to a specific person or organization.

"We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts," Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said in the story.

It's possible, though, that Twitter wasn't responsible. For example, an attacker could have acquired a password by breaching Fox News itself, then simply logged on.

A further statement from Twitter, though, indicated that the blame lay at Fox's own feet.

While Twitter does monitor accounts for brute-force login attempts and similar methods of attack, we're unable to anticipate compromises that take place due to offsite behavior.

Generally speaking, we suggest using an e-mail address associated with your domain or, if you do not have one, using two-factor authentication or being aware of best practices around password security in order to prevent attacks.

We've heard from Fox News that they have identified the offsite vector that led to the compromise, and would encourage follow-up with them about the details of how that compromise took place.

A group called Script Kiddies claimed responsibility, the BBC reported, but its account has been disabled.

About the author

Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and covers browsers, Web development, digital photography and new technology. In the past he has been CNET's beat reporter for Google, Yahoo, Linux, open-source software, servers and supercomputers. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces.
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